And Then There Were Three
by Matilda
Summary: Sequel to One Night in Engineering. While trying to get Abigail to sleep, Hoshi remembers the path that led her to Enterprise.


Title: And Then There Were Three, Part 1  
Author: Matilda7  
Category: General, slightly Tu/S perhaps  
Codes: Tu/S  
Rating: G  
Summary: Part one: While trying to get Abigail to sleep, Hoshi remembers the path that led her to Starfleet.  
Notes: This will be a sequel in parts to One Night in Engineering, in which Trip and Hoshi adjust to their new life as parents and reflect on the paths that brought them to this point in their lives. This was written early in Season Two before we knew much about Hoshi, so it does not really have anything to do with canon. Thank you, thank you to my wonderful beta reader, smurf! Any mistakes you find are me, all me! I do not own any of these characters they belong to Paramount, except Abby of course. Oh, and "Sweet Baby James" belongs to James Taylor.

And Then There Were Three, Part 1 

"Abby, sweetheart, you've got to let momma sleep," Hoshi said through an impressively large yawn. 

Abby begged to differ and kept right on crying, her mouth open wide as though she were auditioning for an opera. 

Hoshi decided right now she would take opera, even a full orchestra, it might be easier on her ears. Abigail had definitely inherited her mother's skill for vocalization. 

Yawning again, Hoshi picked up Abby from her crib and began to pace her and Trip's small quarters. "When your father gets home we are going to have a little talk about the scheduling," Hoshi's said, her voice soothed with baby talk. "And all the night shifts he is mysteriously assigned to." 

She winced as Abby's cries rose in volume once more. Hoshi wracked her sleep addled brain for anything she could do to quiet Abigail. She was past the first time mom panic that had kept her awake for a month, worrying about any sound from her daughter that didn't include a happy smile; the phase that had left Phlox muttering that if anyone else on this ship had a baby he was going home. Now Hoshi was just exhausted. 

She decided to try a different tactic. Careful not to step on any of the baby toys, laundry, or PADDs that were littering the room, Hoshi brought Abigail over to the rocking chair that sat in the corner. The chair had been a gift to them from the engineering staff and it was often one of the only ways to calm Abigail's fits. 

The rocking chair had been made with help everyone in engineering, each person adding their own touch to it. The end result was far from perfect, one arm was a little higher than the other and the slats on the back did not match, but to Hoshi these mistakes were the best part of the chair, they reminded her how happy everyone was for their new family and how glad she was to be a part of this crew. It must have meant something to Abby as well because she was often lulled to sleep by its gentle rocking. 

Hoshi watched her daughter as she rocked. Abby's cries had for the moment subsided to a slight whimpering interrupted by soft sniffles. Her eyes were wide blue spheres, however, and Hoshi knew that this was the crucial moment, any disturbance and Abby would be ready to go again, crying even louder than before. So she just kept rocking. 

To keep herself awake she sang a lullaby that Trip had taught her, 

__

There's a song that they sing when they take   
to the highway   
A song that they sing when they take to the sea  
A song that they sing of their home in the sky   
Maybe you can believe it if it helps you to sleep   
But singing works just fine for me 

__

Goodnight moonlight ladies  
Rocka Bye sweet baby James  
Deep Greens and Blues are the colors I choose  
Won't you let me go down in my dreams  
And rocka bye sweet baby James 

Abby's eyes began to close, and Hoshi lowered her voice, still rocking slowly. As Abigail drifted off to sleep Hoshi watched her, admiring the tiny hand that held on to her finger and the perfect features of her daughter's little face. 

To Hoshi it seemed like only yesterday she was still on her own in space, feeling more than a little lost in this new frontier. Now she was a wife, mother and respected member of the Enterprise crew. If only she had known where this path would lead her, choosing it might not have been so difficult. 

Deciding to come on this mission to the unknown was one of the hardest choices Hoshi had made in her young life. She had known there would be hundreds of fascinating new languages, but there would also be adventure, and adventure to Hoshi was not a good word. It meant danger, and the potential for injury, death and other unpleasant things. She had no idea what lay beyond her known corner of space and in some ways she had been content to never find out. In the end the idea of all those languages still waiting to be discovered won out, along with a small amount of pride. 

When Captain Archer had contacted her to join his crew Hoshi was still hurting from her loss of the top spot in her class, an honor she had thought she would never forfeit . She had made it all the way through her undergraduate education and most of her graduate school years at the head of her class. Everyone else had always measured themselves by her. Then in her final semester it all came crashing down. 

Well, perhaps that was a little melodramatic, Hoshi thought to herself, smiling. With time and distance the angst of her younger self seemed more than a little silly. It had not been entirely her fault afterall. 

That final semester her mother, usually so strong and in control of everything, had done something she had never done before, she asked Hoshi for help. Hoshi had been shocked to learn that her father was very ill, possibly even dying, and no one had bothered to tell her. Not that she should have been surprised, her parents had always been very private, not willing to burden their children with problems they could work out themselves. Hoshi was furious however, this was something she should have been told. 

Hoshi did not think twice about helping her mother though. She had given up her apartment on campus and moved back home, hours away from school. Somehow she had managed to finish her thesis in between helping her mother cook, clean and watch over her father. By the end of the semester her father was much better, but Hoshi was exhausted. When it came time to defend her thesis, her heart was not in it. It was that little lack of enthusiasm that had cost her the top spot in her class. 

She had never told her parents why she wasn't first in her class, but she suspected her mother knew. She could see the guilt in her mother's eyes when she looked at Hoshi's diploma. She knew what her mother was thinking, that she had never asked for help before and look what asking this time had cost her daughter. Hoshi had always worked hard to stay at the top and it seemed unfair to have lost this honor so near the end. 

Hoshi did not blame her mother and although she was angry that her parents had waited so long to tell her about her father's illness, in the end she was glad her mother asked her for help. When Jonathan requested she join the Enterprise a small part of Hoshi's decision to say yes had been to assuage her mother's guilt, and whether she admitted it or not to heal her own wounded pride. Perhaps not the best reasons to make such a life altering decision, but looking at her daughter sleeping peacefully in her arms Hoshi would not have it any other way. She was very glad she had chosen this path. 

Hoshi got up slowly and began to backtrack her careful route through the mess in her quarters. She lay Abigail in her crib, kissing her softly on the cheek. As she gently touched Abby's tiny hand Hoshi wondered what choices her daughter would make in the future and where her path would lead her. She hoped with all her heart that Abigail's journey would be as wonderful as her own.


End file.
